Episode 92 - Do The Thing Start a Podcast Challenge Expert Panel

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the do the Thing podcast. This is your host, Stacy Lauren. So, oh my gosh, you guys, this is really exciting because I am here with you today doing a Do the Thing, start a podcast challenge expert panel. And it's crazy to me sometimes how these things start because this was not even on my radar at all. I basically was running a Do the Thing dating dare challenge and back in July, and we only allowed 100 people in this first challenge and we did an expert panel. And Adam Weber, who is the. Who is the founder of the platform that my podcast is based on called Cast, he had given a dare to the dating panelists about starting a podcast. And no one took us up on that dare. We even did a separate side episode on starting a podcast and how cool it would be to do in the lens of a dating challenge. And it was just too much outside of people's comfort zone. So they didn't take us up on it until I did the second challenge and it just ended last month. And people had listened to that episode and they started to say that they wanted to start a podcast. So we did a zoom just a few weeks ago about starting a podcast and the response to that was just overwhelming from people both in the dating group. We had 650 participants in the second dating group and then from people outside the dating group. I even was in a. I just come from an investment club meeting. It was part of an NFT that Ryan Moran hosts and there were 20 people in that investment club. And I mentioned that video that we had just done a zoom on starting a podcast. And like half the people said they were interested. And so that just showed me how amazing it is for people. Number one, people that have wanted to start a podcast that are going to be able to get an opportunity to see how to do it easily and without all the technical hang ups that a lot of people have and the perfectionism that people have when they want to start it. But then the other side of people are the people that maybe never even considered starting a podcast and still maybe even aren't sure that that's what they want to do, but they want to go through this journey of what it's like to start a podcast. And so I decided to put an expert panel together and just everything that happens with do the Thing, it sort of just happens naturally and divinely, honestly. And so let me just tell you who's. So we have Adam Weber, who is the founder of the platform. My podcast is based on Callcast, and he also did a podcast for 365 days. So for an entire year, every day, talking to people about fear. And then I have Dr. Nancy here, who is a retired psychologist and she's also my holistic coach. She's an expert in the dating challenges as well as other things that we're doing. And she has a podcast with her daughter, it's called this Life. And I may have nudged her to start the podcast. And Adam has also helped her. So she's going to be here both as a podcast expert and then also here for Mindset to help you with that as well. And then Kate Erickson, I'm so excited to have because she's part of the community that I'm a part of now. I just joined Podcasters paradise last month because I wanted to be around other people that are doing podcasts. And it's amazing community of podcasters and people that are just doing really cool things. And her podcast is called Kate's Take. And then I have Josh Thomas here. I have Josh Thomas here, who is the podcast host of the Do Zone. So of course I had to have him here. We actually had a one on one like a few weeks ago and he was talking like purely in do the thing language. And then I also have Niyama Ashang, who is the host of the Outliers Edge podcast. And it's about using what makes you different to make a difference. And I just love that idea, actually having your differences be the thing that you're able to have, be your strengths. And then Betsy Paik, who's an NLP coach and her podcast is the Art of Living Big. I listen to that pretty much religiously because she's talking all about parenting and being a mom and just all these things that make it super connecting, invulnerable in the way that she's able to to express herself. And then Gregory Benedict, he is the host of a Dare to Dream podcast and a life coach. He's also the president of one of the Toastmaster clubs I'm a part of. And it's been amazing to get to know him better. And then Andres Gamboa, he's the host of the Ponytails podcast. And I love this idea because I met him through this pod. I've actually met most of the people on here through my podcast, but we had a shared experience from a college summer job. And that's what his podcast is about. He interviews all the people that did that job. And so that's why we're here, you guys, because podcasting is a way to explore, to Learn to get to know yourself better. There's so much about it that I just love, and that's why I'm so passionate about being able to share this message of podcasting. It's not even about the podcast. It's about the idea of expressing your voice and being able to, like, speak to what's true to you. And that's what I love about it. And that's what we're really going to get into today because whether or not you decide to publish it at the end of this challenge is up to you. I want you to go through this journey and get to know yourself and what you're about and really love, love, like see what lights you up. So I'm excited to welcome everyone here. Hi, guys.

Hello. Hello.

Excited to be here.

This is really cool.

Yeah, I'm so happy to be here with so many awesome people. I want to reach out to everybody individually now with such great introductions. Sure.

So cool. Well, yeah, I'm so glad you guys are here. And I've been thinking a lot about this and I think that's what's cool about. Once you say something out loud, it kind of goes wildfire. And Yom and I talked about this on our episode. It's. You get to co create, then once you get to talk with another person and. And you say it out loud and then it kind of just takes a life of its own. So one of the things I've been exploring is I almost think of a podcast having a Facebook account or an Instagram account. Facebook is words and your feelings. Instagram is images. Then you have TikTok, right? You have to keep it in these one minute to three minute little snippets. YouTube is video, but podcasting is just your voice. And I almost think there's something really magical about that. And if people almost even take away the business side of it for now for this purpose of this challenge, and then, and then think of it just even as just in a personal expression of who they are and what they're interested in. There's something really magical about that.

I think that I have processed so many things in my life by having the podcast because there was things I wanted to talk about and I was like, wait a second, I need to really think through this. And it really has helped me a lot just in growth over the past six years.

And that's actually my next thought is I wanted to just hear from you guys if you could share what is the thing that got you to start your podcast? What is that moment that Got you to just light the fire and say, okay, I'm going to do this thing.

For me, I've actually, I'm on my second podcast and the, the very first one was I, I just wanted to hang out with the dude that was starting it and he wasn't very good in speaking and he didn't have a whole lot of great ideas and, and I was even worse. But I thought that I had some good ideas for him. And I'm like, hey, you know what? Here's what you should do. Here's how you should do your podcast. In fact, if you decide to do this and I'm, I'll do it with you. I'll be your co host. And he was like, huh? All right. And so I convinced him. Even though I had zero experience and I had no idea how to talk to anybody, all I had was like this cool radio voice. And so we got on and I just started figuring it out as I went. But that initial, for me, the initial thing about getting a podcast started was I just want to build relationships and this is a way that I can do that easily. We finished that podcast and I started a second one and there was like a two year gap where I didn't have one. And after having done like 250 episodes of that last one, I, I just, I missed it. I missed that opportunity to just find. How else are you going to set aside an hour of your life to talk to a random person who's going to be like, yeah, man, let's just hang out and talk for an hour. Nobody's going to do that. Nobody has that time. But if you're on a podcast, of course I'll make the time because the podcast has value. And that to me is why I do it, is to build those relationships with the guests that I talk to.

I would really love to hear before we go on, because that to me is the gem of podcasting. It's that can. And granted, you could do solo episodes, but when you're bringing a guest on, there's just something so magical of taking that time and being able to connect on such a deep level. And I'd love to hear from you guys on that too.

I think, I think for me, and this is probably pretty relatable, but hopefully this isn't too long of an answer, but I read a book called the Power of Moments. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of it. I highly recommend. It's kind of redundant, but the whole point of it is that people remember Specific moments in their life that they like. That's how their memory kind of works. They have a. The example that they give from a business standpoint is there's a hotel in la, and it's, like, priced the same as, like, the Ritz Carlton or something, like, super expensive. But if you go to it, it looks like a Motel 6. But the thing about it that is weird is that there's a. There's a pool, and there's yellow walls around the pool, and on the yellow wall, there's this big red foam. And you call. It's called a Popsicle hotline. And you call it. And when you call it, someone shows up with, like, a tuxedo. When a silver platter. And brings you two popsicles, all you have to say is like, hey, I need a Popsicle. And then they bring them to you. And so the point of that is that it creates this visceral moment in your. In your mind that even though the hotel rooms suck, in fact it's even part of the charm. They look like a Motel 6. People go and pay top dollar to just have that moment and that experience at that pool. So that. I remember that idea. And as Stacy said, we. I sold books door to door back in college. It's the thing we did in college. It's bananas. It's 80 hours a week and straight commission. You're in college, you got no place to live. You have to find it, and you just go sell these kids books door to door. You probably had someone knock on your door selling your books.

I did that.

But it was a crazy experience.

And.

And because of that, every time I met someone else had done it, even if they had done it, like Stacy, who did it in the 90s, I did it in 2010. Even though we were generations apart, times have changed. There was this amazing moment and a connection whenever you meet someone who had done that. And it was. Maybe it's because of shared trauma, maybe it's because of whatever. But for some reason, there was always this moment. So fast forward the pandemic hit. You guys heard about the flu a couple years ago, and I am aggressively extroverted. And which means, like, my eyebrow twitches if I'm sitting next to someone on a plane and I haven't said hello. And so I was sitting there, like, locked in. I have. My roommates are out of town. I'm just like, I need to talk to someone. And for some reason, that moment of meeting a new book person or a person that sold books in college just, like, hit Me. And then the idea was, hey, you know what'd be sweet is if I started a. Or if I. If I could listen to a podcast that has these conversations. Because every time you start talking to someone who did this, the stories about what happened to you are crazy. I got a gun in my face or this dad wanted to kill me, or this lady thought I was blah. Or one time they bought this giant pack. It was always fun. And my friends that never sold books were always intrigued by this conversation. And so I said, I gotta go find this. And nobody had done it. I couldn't find it. And so I was like, well, Google's how to start a podcast. Oh, it's really not too complicated. Okay, let's start recording with someone. I called five My friends that did it. We started recording it. It was just open source, kind of long form and it was a blast. And back to what Josh had said it that what I realized is just exactly how you said is that connection of getting to know someone because you have to and also slash get to that really kept it going because then it turned into more about other people connecting with it. Stacy heard it. Other people like Stacy had heard it. Who done this? Hundreds of thousands of people have done this. And we started getting people listening in and messaging us going, oh my gosh, this takes me back. This is so funny. This is so crazy. I've cried seven times. And after that, we realized that that's what people really enjoyed was that connection. That's what I fell in love with it. So sorry for the long answer, but it's kind of tough to explain a cultish door to door thing that we didn't call.

No, I think it's cool too. And I think the cool thing is you started it from just merely wanting to connect with people and now it's your. This is what you're doing for your living by now you're helping.

It's how I feed my dogs.

Yeah. And I think that's really cool is just that you didn't have any. It was like this rough draft goal. You didn't have an idea of what you would actually get paid doing it are. So I think that's really cool. So Dr. Nancy, I'd love to. I'd love to hear from you.

I've been wanting to do a podcast for a very, very long time. I took like a super expensive course that taught me how to do everything, but nothing really gel. Nothing happened. I'm a firm believer in human design and I don't know if you guys have heard about human design. I'm a generator, so I have to wait to be inspired or invited or whatever. And my daughter is a manifester. She actually has all of the ideas. And so one day she was like, mom, we should really be serious about doing this podcast. Because we would spend hours in the car talking about so many different things. And I'm like, we should record this. And so one day she was like, I'm serious, let's do it. And I'm like, me being a generator, I'm like, boom, let's go. And in the timing of everything, I believe in divine orchestration. Because at that time, after researching so many different types of doing the podcast and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the stuff, I had given up on that. But then when I met Adam through Stacy, it was like, just go on zoom and record. I'm like, that's it. So now it's like, let's go.

What are you doing?

Let's go on zoom. And it's been phenomenal. And I think that what I found for me most impactful is listening to the people that actually are learning from what we're sharing. People that are actually listening. I'm. Wow, you listen to our podcast?

I didn't think so.

But they are learning ways of interacting, ways of talking, ways. If this helps other people, even if it's one person, to me, that's time well spent. So that's my. My purpose for continuing.

Is there anyone else that would like to answer that first question with the. The thing that got you started, like, what lit it on fire?

I would love that to. You said, what lit you on fire? And it's really, really appropriate because, like, my journey started actually with Kate. Here I was in podcasters paradise. 2014 is when I got my first podcast out there. It was done actually as a video cast. I remember sitting there splicing everything together because I didn't have good Internet and so on and so forth. But there's been many different iterations of many different types of podcasts since then. But I. The one thing that I keep, like, leaning back on that feels really great. It was just when it came to actually starting simply allowing myself to just do whatever the tech, whatever someone who knew the technical stuff was to do, following their process, because I thought that the tech was hard. I was like, what's the right. What's the right camera? Like, what's the right microphone? What's the right structure, all that stuff there? And it turns out that once you get that, that underneath you, you're good. And so I've been able to create a lot of different podcasts since then. Really spending more time in the place of like, what is it that I want to say? Right now my podcast structure is super different now. I coach people live on, on my podcast now. It just, just evolved a lot from mimicking basically entrepreneur on fire when I first started to like now this brand new thing that. That is me. That is, that is also like. And maybe I'll talk about this a little bit later on, but it fits a lot more with the business that I have, with the way that I look to try and create revenue and also with the kinds of conversations I want to have where the depth we can create the relationships there and go on from there. So, yeah, that's, that's what, that's what lit me on fire now. I'm in an inferno right now.

It feels good.

Oh, I like that. In inferno. That's good. And I think what's cool. I'll talk to the listeners for a minute because when you hear what Josh is saying, where he had a podcast, then he did another one and Niyama had one initially and now he's doing one really aligned with, with who he is. This do the thing podcast, start a podcast challenge. This could be just a practice podcast. So for you, I know I'm really focusing on the people that want to use it for personal journ journey. But there's also, I have a lot of people that want to join that are also have businesses and they've been holding it off. They're going to be a part of this challenge as well. And so for them, they. What's been holding them back is perfection. Right? And so by them understanding how to. By you guys understanding how to flex the muscle to continue to hit record, schedule some from someone for an interview, you'll get to see that process and it'll become so automatic. So by the time you actually, whether you decide to publish this one or start another one, you'll already have an understanding and a baseline of what that is. So, Gregory, your turn.

I love what you said, Niyama. One of the most important things is just starting. You don't need the right equipment. You don't need to have anything figured out. You just have to show up and press record. And I recently, yesterday actually just recorded my 100th podcast episode with my co host. We were reflecting on where we started and it was a zoom call with no video, just audio. And I was shaking. I was so nervous. And we went from that and we Started using anchor, just putting a cell phone on the table, recording there. Then we bought all the wrong mics, all the wrong equipment, and it was this slow, iterative process to figure out where we are now, which is by no means an expert, but Stacy, I appreciate the title and it's been such a wonderful journey. And if I could impart any wisdom to the listener, it's to just get started, to just give it a try and keep overcoming that little voice in your head, the resistance that's telling you that today is not the day, it's not the right time. I'm showing up this morning. I lost my voice yesterday, and so I'm raspy. I'm voraciously drinking tea here so I can make it. And it's just such a beautiful experience when you start a podcast and as Josh mentioned earlier, what other times in your life do you get to sit down with someone for an hour uninterrupted? No cell phones. It's not a six second conversation that you have to clip up and post on TikTok. There's just so much beauty in sitting down and giving someone else the time and really authentically connecting with them.

Yeah. And it's really cool because I'll mention this now because Gregory, like I mentioned, he's the president of one of the Toastmaster clubs that I'm in. And there was a moment in that group that they asked you who your superhero was as part of Table topic prompt. And I had said Adam was. Who's here? The founder of the Callcast platform because he's just been so amazing to me throughout this whole process. And one of the Toastmasters. Is that what you call them? Gregory? I don't even know.

One of the.

Francine, actually one of the toastmasters had said, oh, I'm really interested in starting a podcast. So this was part of this whole thing. Anyway, I had sent her the zoom that Adam and I did with the dating Facebook group and him and I just talked to her a few days ago. Her and her husband have been married for 42 years. We did an episode on their marriage and just how like much work they do to keep it a happy marriage. And so I pretty much after the episode. Oh, Niama, I actually talked to you about this in our episode. I'm remembering now because it just meant so much to me. I just replayed back the things that she said, what her podcast could be in the episodes. And then Adam and I met with her last week and within the hour, I don't even think we talked a Full hour. She created her image, we got her set up on callcast. She already kind of knows who she's going to interview. It was just so exciting for her to see how easy it is once you get started. And so there's just something about that that's magical. So going on with that getting started theme that we've been talking about and then, Adam, I'd love for you to just kind of share a look. I know I talked a little bit about yours in the beginning, but if you don't mind kind of sharing that as well.

Yeah, absolutely. So pre Covid, for many, many years I was developing apps, working with startup founders who had different ideas and they would come into the office and we'd kind of work on building using the Lean Startup methodologies to just kind of make products. And I always loved doing that. And each year I'd also take a personal project and so just to kind of do R and D and tinker around. And so that's where callcast kind of was born. And typically when I work with people, I always would try to build things within a three month scope, but it's easier to instruct other people and follow kind of those rules when you're working with other people and hard to apply them to yourself. And so colecast just kind of kept growing and growing and growing. And when Covid hit, it became the main and kind of main focus and it was just started out of a fun project. And then it finally hit a point where I found myself just building it all the time. And you had yet to actually record a podcast and so I figured I had to eat my own dog food. And I have always been an introvert. I've always kind of never been one to be in front of the camera. I always liked hearing other people's stories and listening, but never kind of being the one to be kind of holding the microphone. So it was a huge challenge and very difficult. And as Gregory said, always find an excuse to put something off. I'll start it tomorrow. Or there's some kind of barrier, there's something that's not right or perfect or Nyama said, oh, I gotta. One of the things Nyama, you said I love is that you're on your like third or fourth or whatever show. You've grown and changed throughout the time that when you started. And so many of us feel like we have to figure it's got to be the right show or I got to know my exact voice or, or whatever. And what I've learned along the way from Talking to so many people is that evolves. And it comes from just jumping in and doing it, doing the thing. And so finally, I picked the date, which was a New Year's, a few years ago, and said on New Year's. And for me, I have to sometimes do things extreme. So I said to my, otherwise, it doesn't feel like a real challenge. And that's why I love Stacey. You're doing these challenges because when you set a framework of a challenge, then it creates, I don't know, like, a structure around it that you're going to follow and jump in and say, okay, I'm going to do it. And then when the challenge is over, I can stop if I want to. So I created a 365 podcast challenge where I'll do one new podcast every single day, and I have to talk to a new person. It's got to be a different person. And I wanted to see if I could do that with this app that I'd been building and made it simple enough to record, edit, and publish all within an hour. And it was an amazing experience to be able to do that. And you learned so much. And one of the things I learned is a couple things. One, just starting it is incredible forcing yourself to do it, and it's always, always, always scary before you do it, but the feeling after you do it is unbelievable. Like when you talk to somebody new and you meet somebody and create that space for connection. It is. I always kind of would feel this fear and kind of nervousness ahead of time, and then once the conversation would happen and it would be over, I'd be like, oh, my God, I feel so blessed that that happened, and it would charge me up for the rest of the day. So there's something really magical and special that happens in those moments of connection. I think, as Josh said or Andre said, it's getting that opportunity to meet somebody new and hold that space for it is really powerful. So with that being said, yeah, I. It's. I love my favorite thing. And with you, Stacy, you know, somebody will reach out to me on the website and just say, hey, what is this? What is podcasting all about? What is this? And get to watch somebody go through that journey of discovering what a podcast is and then take that leap of just starting to record or make those connections. Like watching you, Stacy, on your journey of creating the do the Thing podcast. And then now to hear about all the incredible people that you're meeting that are coming into your life because you have the space. It's just to me, podcasting is like a vehicle, a tool that you use. It's just there. The real thing is in the connections you're making and the conversations you're happening, and the podcast is just the vehicle to get you there. And so the people that you're creating and doing things even like this today, it's just amazing.

So it's been a really incredible experience, and I'm so glad that it just seems like it's going to be so cool. I'm already thinking just the challenge itself is going to be amazing. To see people go through this journey of not being perfect, but just having fun and enjoying it, and then also what could come afterwards is exciting to me as well. So, Kate, did you want to share?

Yeah, absolutely. So I got into podcasting after attending. Well, I was into podcasting, but I was in the back end of the business, Adam. I've always been the one that was like, not on the microphone or not on the camera, and I was very comfortable with that being an executor. In 2013, I did a transformational training and ended one of the exercises. Very long story short, I'd have to go into a lot of details to try and set this exercise up for you, but essentially, out of like 215 people, I was sitting in the middle of a circle in a dark room by myself, with everyone else around me. The lesson from that exercise was that I was walking through life invisible, that I wasn't using my voice. And that was such a huge wake up call for me. Very transformational. And that was the scariest thing in the world to me, to use my voice, to actually, like, speak out for what I believed in, to stand up for myself, to show myself. Like, that was all the most difficult parts of me. And I was working behind the scenes of a podcast called Entrepreneurs on Fire for my then boyfriend, now husband. And I thought I have literally every single tool, resource, support I could ever need to start a podcast, except for that deep fear inside of me of letting my voice out there. And because that was the scariest thing for me to do, I knew that's what I needed to do. And so I promised myself, I made the commitment to myself that I would not walk through life invisible anymore, that I would not keep my voice quiet. And so I started a podcast, scared as I'll get out. And yeah, that was 2014, and here I am. I've now launched four different podcasts and run a community of podcasters with thousands of people sharing their message, their voice, their mission with the world. And it's been such an incredible journey. And it's because of podcasting. I mean, my life has expanded so much because of it. My confidence and how I show up and as everyone else has said, the people that I've been able to meet and connect with. And. Yeah, it's just such a fulfilling experience.

Yeah. And the help and support you give in that group, it's unbelievable. And I know it's nice. And it's part of the. It's part of the do the thing formula is being around my people. Right. Doing people that. Being with people that are doing the same thing as you, that want the same thing and that want to grow in the same way. And so it's just. It's a beautiful way to kind of continue on with that, too.

Yeah.

And then, Betsy, I know you shared before the question started, I wanted to see if you wanted to also speak up to this too.

Yeah. Just like how I started my podcast, I think is a. A little bit different than a lot of people in that at the time that I started my podcast, which I've had it for like six and a half years probably now, my daughter, I have one daughter who's about to turn 21, but at the time, she was really sick, and she was sick for several years. And I had something in me where I wanted to be a coach and I wanted to share and I wanted to help people. And I thought, I can't even help my own kid. It was so overwhelming. And so I thought, I'm gonna. How I actually started was I'm gonna go to Panera Bread. I went to Panera Bread every week and I did a speech and I would put it on meetup and I said, there'll be a speaker every week. And it just happened to be me. People would come and I started to get a group of people, but. But going to Panera Bread to do it even became kind of difficult. And so I thought, I'm just going to move it into a podcast. And, you know, in the beginning, I would get like 27 people that would listen, but I thought, how cool, because if those 27 people were in a room, I would, oh, my God. I had 27 people show up at the Panera Bread. So I just got really excited about it. And now, I mean, six and a half years later, I mean, thousands and thousands of people listen every week. But I think one of the coolest things is that I was doing it from a place of I want to be able to help somebody. I have something to share. And what's happened is people give me feedback all the time. Like, I just got a message from someone that said, you and I lost 50 pounds together this. This year. You walked with me every morning. Like, I just am, like, it's such a cool thing. And we've created this really cool environment where we can be really vulnerable and we can share stuff and we can be real and authentic. And it is not overly. I didn't make it hard. I just showed up as every week in an effort to help people and to share my journey of life. So I think that there can be reasons that we really do podcasts for business. And, I mean, there's lots of great reasons, but I also think it can be just a way to share your journey.

And I think this really kind of makes the point of what I want to do with this whole challenge really real. Right? Because everyone got started for different reasons, and everyone is doing different things from, like, a job, having, like, having a college job that you're now interviewing people that have experiences to having a parenting thing that you're working through and then wanting to kind of work through that as well as help people. Kate, I love what you said. Actually had a similar thing with that invisible feeling. Invisible and then being able to use your voice. And I think it's such a great way to do that. So, anyway, everyone has a different kind of thing that brought them here and that they're speaking about. And so it just shows all the different possibilities that are out there for people. I'd love to hear what you guys think about my thought that I said in the beginning, because this is a new thing that I've been entertaining. Everyone should have a podcast, just like you have Facebook, just like you have Instagram. Some people have TikTok. Why do you think. Why do you think I'm saying that? Like, what do you think would benefit? One thing I wanted to add the other thing that I think would be cool about that is because there's not the addictive quality of it. It's not like you're looking for light, like, immediate likes or anything like that. Whereas you post something on Facebook or Instagram, you're getting that immediate. Like, with podcasting, it's different. You don't have that, which I think is really cool, too. So I was just curious if you guys had thoughts about that as well as just another social plat.

I. I think there's a tremendous value in that. If you can have a Twitter platform where it's basically a town hall, you share your message. Facebook, where you can talk about your life. Instagram, where you can share photos of it. Why not share your voice? Why not share your thoughts in a. In a way that somebody who just doesn't like to read stuff would prefer hearing it kind of firsthand? And that tone and that inflection. Why not do that? That some people prefer and can communicate better if they're able to use that kind of human element of it that you just don't get in an aerial font.

Yeah, in a second. That we learn from different senses. So some people are more visual, some people are more auditory. And I think it's important to honor that, to be able to express yourself in whatever way is more comfortable with you. Some people are speakers, and they love talking. And what I've found often is that a lot of people are not heard. And because they're not heard, then they don't speak. And I think that this provides an opportunity to speak, even if the purpose is to express themselves. Even if no one listens, of course someone's going to listen, but at least speak your truth. I think that's the most important thing. Speaking your truth. I see an epidemic of people wanting desperately to be heard and no one listening to each other. So I like this as an avenue to explore that.

Yeah. And, Gregory, I was hoping you could talk also about the. The mask idea, because I think that this is a time to be able to take your mask off. Do you mind kind of speaking to that a little bit?

You read my mind. I wanted to share next. So I started podcasting as an honest and unfiltered way to share my story and who I really am. And, Betsy, I think it was you who said you're just sharing your life story and you're sharing what is going on for you in that moment. And for me, I realized that I was wearing a mask for a lot of my life. So in college, I was wearing the mask of trying to be the fun party guy, and it just really wasn't me. And so when I graduated college, I went into finance. I thought that's what I wanted to do, and I realized that that is not what I want to do with my life. I value human connection and growth and learning and just being with other people so much. And so I felt like I had to take off the mask in order to realize who I really was. And without getting too into the weeds, this was all sparked by the number one regret of the dying. There's this book called the Top five Regrets of the Dying by Bronnie Ware, and she interviewed 500 people on their deathbed, and she found that the number one regret people have when they get to the end of their life is, I wish I would have had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expect of me. And if everyone had a podcast and everyone was sharing their authentic truth, it would be such a beautiful way to really get to know someone, to really see what lights their soul on fire, what they're passionate about. So I love this concept of everyone having a podcast. And as I began to take my mask off and dare to dream of what was possible, that's when I've been connected to amazing people like Stacy, like, all of you guys. The people and the opportunities seem to start manifesting and showing up when you have the courage to take off that mask and authentically be yourself.

I'm all about people bringing in what they can bring in.

That's.

That's different to the. To the equation. But as I was thinking about this, everyone should have a podcast, and you put it into, like, Facebook, like a Facebook account and such. I realized, like, I would love that if that was the case. There's a couple different reasons why. One, one of the biggest unexpected gains of having a podcast is like, is speaks to, like, that courage, muscle. There are things right now where I can just. Like, I'm finding myself doing other things in life that have nothing to do with the podcast, that. That, like, have springboarded. Not just because I made a relationship, but because I've reached out about a certain time or one time in one conversation, I was just a little bit more curious than I normally would have been or a little bit more courageous. And I said something or someone challenged me in real time. I, like, had to figure out what I was going to do in that moment. And so I'm just thinking about the benefits of what happens internally when you go through this process of just having a podcast. That's the first thing that comes to mind. The second thing that comes here is, like, the component for me. Like, my podcast now feels different in the sense of I have this thing, like, I love hitting record. Everything in my life could be valuable if I allow it to be valuable. So the idea for me is how awesome would it be to just have, like, a body of work, a journal of your life, to see, able to come back and listen to how you've grown, how, like, the ways that you're looking at things, the way that things have evolved over time, and to see how that comes to life and where podcasts sick for me, a lot now is like, it's just being able to document a lot of different things. Oh, I had an idea. I can send it as a voice memo or I can just take some time to just go buy my, my microphone and create an episode. And that has an opportunity to help whoever chooses to help out there or can, can have like a life of its own. Should I allow it to be. So it's been the idea of all that being in place and to be able to go through life meeting with other people who've also been able to process themselves or process life in a different way. It's really exciting. I think it's a good call.

And it's funny because it, what you said too is true. Where so many things that aren't even related to the podcast start happening when you have the podcast. Kind of like Adam said about it being the vehicle. Andres and I did an interview and I just thought, we just talked about this yesterday because I thought it was hilarious. He's talking about how much he likes to do comedy, like stand up comedy. And then on his episode, and then after, I think it was two weeks after our episode, Andres, I got an email about a comedy workshop that was coming in. Comedy hasn't even been on my radar at all. But because he said he loved it, it, I'm like, whatever, I'll try it out. It gives me more opportunity to flex the muscle being in front of people. And I've been having the best time. This is my fourth week in the workshop. I'm gonna do my first stand up thing in two weeks, which will be hilarious. Hilarious. Not hilarious, but I'm still doing the thing. But anyway, the idea of it, I wouldn't have even. I don't even think I would have said yes had I not interviewed Andres and had he not been as passionate as he was when he was talking about doing standup comedy. So there's something so magical about that too. It's like it gets. Gets planted in your unconscious mind and then all of a sudden things start appearing and then you say yes more often.

I think I wanted to add, I do think you start to see your life in a different way when you're a podcaster. I often say that I'm a collector of meaning, like moments that have meaning. So I'm. It's almost like because I've over time now, everything that happens, I think, like, well, what's the meaning of this that I could, could share? What's the lesson in this? So you start to see your life through this different lens. And I think it's kind of funny, if I didn't have the podcast, I'm sure I would be over talking at home processing everything. So having it as an outlet for all of these moments and meanings, really cool.

I wanted to share a little bit. I think this is a cool thought that you had, Stacy too. But a lot of people on here have been talking about, and this is true for me as well, that you find out a lot about yourself. That challenge of doing something scary, you can do that elsewhere as well, like if you go dive into a cold pool or something. And all of those things are going to be. If they're challenging and they're scary, like kids do it, because that's, that's where you're going to learn a lot about yourself.

So.

So yes, and to this is. I think it's also from the standpoint of starting a podcast, why that instead of jumping into a cold pool is because you are also giving other people the opportunity to give their voice out. So I don't do a solo podcast. I want to down the road. In fact, maybe part of this challenge is what I'll, I'll join in and do that. But from my experience of I've only ever interviewed other people since we started. And so for me, some of the things that other people have shared on my show that have then gotten a lot of resonance with people who listen to us has been really rewarding for me because on the one hand, you know, we've had, had, we've had people on the show, and this kind of has to do with the nature of the job that we did. But it was this place where only positivity was allowed. Only positivity. And actually that can sometimes be a problem because sometimes you need to feel the negative stuff too. And so we had for the first time given people a place to come do that outside of their friend group that they had created when they were working at this company. And so when they were able to do that, we had people cry on the show. We had people really like dig deep and share with themselves. And so we kind of empowered others to do the same thing by having our mod podcast. So that was. That's one thing I would say, if you're maybe scared for yourself, do it for someone else else who because of you, then got their voice out. Kind of like what we're doing right now, thanks to Stacy. And then the second thing is, even if it is a solo podcast, maybe you don't want to interview other people or Even if it is an interview podcast, podcasts, in the way that you were comparing them to Facebook, Instagram, they're similar that way. From the standpoint of your sharing stuff, but especially if you do it consistently, which is the key to any podcast, is you just got to keep putting stuff out there is that there are more. They're going to be there forever. So when someone finds your show, there could be. They might listen to the latest one, go, oh, this is kind of cool, and go back down and listen to an episode you did four years ago. Right. And those ideas could still hold true. So you never know what. Who needs to hear what is being talked about whenever. And so the odds go get better because you have a podcast, because someone who needed to hear today's episode might hear this three years from now, and then they decide to start a podcast that changes the world or something like that. So because of that, if you're not going to do it for yourself, at the very least, do it for the people who could potentially hear. And even if it's just one person and that person, here's the thing that they needed to hear to overcome their thing, to do that thing or whatever, that was completely worth all the work that you did. That's my perspective anyway, but sorry.

Yeah, and the other thing I wanted to mention too, is it almost for people that want a little extra motivation in their life, there's something about having a podcast that gets you more motivated. I'll give you an example I'm working on. Oh, Kate knows about this because I posted this in the Podcaster paradise group. But I'm working on a. On a assessment right now to help people get to know themselves better in terms of what's stopping them from doing the thing. So I'm coming up with, like, a title, and it's been. Honestly, I don't know why, because I think there's. It feels so important to me that I'm having trouble figuring out the title of what I'm calling it. And anyway, I was telling my boyfriend about it. He's like, why don't we just go on the street and we'll talk to people and ask them what they think? So. And we ended up doing it, and it was so amazing. We literally were going up to strangers and asking them what's stopping them from doing the things they want to do? And we got such amazing. And I didn't record it, but I still got to know the information, and it was amazing just to hear people that don't even know me and the Things that they said, that's because of this podcast. That, number one, I even got motivated to even go out that night, and then talking to people that I didn't know. And there's something really cool about that, too. When you ask, and this is for the podcast episodes where you're with someone. When you ask someone to be on your podcast, there's two things that happen. They're either going to say yes and feel really complimented that you're wanting them to be on, that you think they. That their voice is, like, meaningful enough that you want them to be on your podcast. Or two, you're going to see what their comfort zone is, but they're still going to be honored that you thought of them. And so there's also an honoring, an honoring that goes on. And then also it's a reason for you to talk to people, too. So I just thought I'd put that in the space as well to see if anything comes alive for you guys.

My thinking is not everyone needs a podcast and you don't need a podcast, but it is something you should try once, especially if it feels scary. I think there is some. I think it's. There's so much value in saying, and that's why I love this challenge, that I'll do 10 podcasts, and if I do 10 episodes, after I do 10 episodes, I'll stop and I never have to do it again. And I just really see a podcast as an accelerant in life. And it's one of those things that if you jump in and you try it and it feels scary, you're gonna find that you learn, learned, and you benefited from it in all these other ways. And just after 10 episodes, at that point in time, you can decide, yeah, this is something I want to keep doing. I see the benefits. Or, wow, that was wild. It was like a roller coaster ride. And I. I got to do these things. But roller coasters aren't for me, and I'll never do it again. So I don't think any. Everyone needs one. But it is definitely a ride you should take at least once in your life.

It's like you're giving permission for them to start it and then to end it. So then there's no, oh, what happens if I don't want to keep doing it in a year? Well, you don't have to do it after you do 10 episodes. I think that's really great.

I just want to add a little bit of weight behind that. There's some statistics, and they're. They're they're variable, depending on who you ask. But the, the general consensus is about 90% of the podcasts that have ever been started don't go past three episodes. And so let's say there's 3 million podcasts out there. Only 300,000 of them are going to do more than three episodes ever. And of those 300,000, only about 10% of them are going to go past 20 episodes. And so that leaves about 30,000 people. And so when you see these statistics of like, man, there's like 3 million podcasts out there, oh my God, it's overwhelming. If you just don't stop and you just do one episode a week for a few months, you have annihilated, like everybody. You're in the top 1%. If you just do this for a little while. And so just think about that and let that sit with you. When, when you see people, it's like, that's overwhelming. How am I going to get found? Just don't stop. They'll find you. Keep talking. They'll find you.

And the other thing I was thinking about yesterday was just how many things you can talk about. So number one, I was thinking, what if you wanted to learn about selling on Amazon, for example, you could have a podcast on interviewing people on selling on Amazon. So it's, that could be a way that you could learn how to sell on Amazon. And that's just one example. Or if you want to, if you, let's say you're looking for a job platform, the things that you're good at, you could start to, you could be like, okay, I'm a salesperson, so I'm going to talk about sales. Like, this is going to be a sales podcast. You're going to get to know yourself even through these things that you're learning and growing with with. You're going through a life change, divorce, you've gotten married, you've gotten, you have kids now and you want to talk about the parenting. There's so many unlimited possibilities of things that you could do for this self exploration. So I wanted to talk to you guys about that is what would. During this challenge, the week one, we decided we're going to get through any technical stuff for the podcast. So we're going to get them on call cast, which as we did with Francine, it seemed like for her it was just like setting up Facebook right the way that she did it. Adam, don't you think it seemed really easy in the way that we got her to go on Canva, even create the Image created the name. It was, as we're talking through it, it was pretty easy. So that's going to be week one of the challenge, is we're going to set them up on Callcast so they have their place to host their stuff. Callcast actually has just upgraded the sound system too, so I'm even going to stop recording on Zoom. It's going to go all straight into Callcast, so there's not even going to be like a upload and export anymore. Everything's going to be straight in there, so we're going to teach them that part. And then after that, I'm just kind of wondering, what are your guys's thoughts with challenges or something that you do every day that you think is really good for your podcast? Maybe not on your podcast, but like some kind of thought exercise or. I'd love to just kind of open the space up for that as well.

I'll show really quick. I. I almost encourage people to just try it and have it be as terrible as possible. I almost encourage this.

Why?

Because we just did 176th episode. Just like this week. We recorded recording another one today, and I was doing a trailer for next season that's coming out, and I go, what if we went back and just grabbed the clip from like the first episode, second episode ever? And to be honest with you, to see the difference of how far we've come, it's so. I mean, I'm glad we didn't start out like where we're at because it wouldn't be as fun to see the ride. And that's, I think, has been part of the journey of the experience of learning. And so if you're out there listening and you're thinking, oh, but what if the sound quality is crappy or what? Good, good, good. Because when you look back 100 episodes later, it'll be such a cool feeling that you actually make it as bad as possible. Actually, please go do that.

I want to say that when people think I have nothing to share, what. What they forget is that you are ahead of so many people, but you're so used to your own life that all you're looking is how far you still have to come. So something I would suggest, people listening is ask your friends, what do you think I'm really good at? What do you think you could benefit or the world could benefit from? I was telling a friend of mine, I was saying, wow, you're really good at making sure that you have water, making sure that you take care of yourself. You prioritize things really well. And she's like, yeah, this isn't everybody. And I'm like, no, not everybody does that.

That.

And so find that. That you feel so comfortable and share that. Even if it seems like it's meaningless. So many people can benefit from. From something that you do well. Even if it's recipes or how to care for your plans or anything you're. You love doing that you think is. Is helpful to the world.

Yeah, I wanted to add to that, too, because I love that idea. And the other thing I've been exploring with, too, is like, what advice do you love to give that? Like, give energy. Because that's how I feel when I'm doing an episode afterwards. I just get so much energy from it. Yeah, I love that idea of kind of tapping into the things that you already love that you're giving advice on, what gives you energy when you do it.

I just want to pop in for a second and reiterate what Andre shared. The importance of not having to have it perfect when you start. And honestly, intentionally just trying to make it as bad as possible. That's a really, really interesting concept. One of my favorite quotes in the whole world, and one that has dominated my podcast journey, is you accrue incremental wisdom as you implement your flawed plan. And there's just this freeing notion that if your plan is inherently flawed, if it's not going to be a good plan, just start it, just implement it. And one thing that really helps me with this is I remember I was in my own head. I was beating myself up. I was comparing my first podcast ever to Joe rogan episode, like, 3107. And I went on YouTube and I don't know how I found it because I haven't been able to find it again, but I found episode one of Joe Rogan's podcast, and it was hilarious. It was not even a podcast. The first 15 minutes were him and Jamie just talking to each other, like, trying to set it up. They were like, is this working? I don't really know.

It had.

It had this weird, like, Microsoft, like, Windows 98, background of snowflakes falling, and it was so bizarre. So if you're ever struggling and you're trying to compare your podcast, your first effort, to someone who's at the top of your craft, stop it. Don't do that. And go listen to one of the first episodes of one of these prolific podcasters, and you'll see that just like you, they started and they had no idea what they were doing, and slowly over time, they implemented that flawed plan, and it got better and better and better. So great, great point, Andres. Love that.

So good. And Niyama, I'd love you to speak on this point, because it's the idea of the things that make us different are the things that we can share, right? Because I think a lot of times people are thinking. I'm not saying this is everyone, but some people are thinking that their differences are bad or whatever, but you're turning it into a beautiful thing. So I'd love you to just kind of speak up to that a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely. Like, as I'm listening to all this, the things that come to my mind are. Right now there's a lot of, like, let's go have conversations with people. Or like, almost, like in an. Almost an interview kind of fashion, as. As one of a common thread that's here. And all that's going through my mind is like, what other kinds of podcasts are there?

What.

What's like, the most random thing you can do that can just be. Because the podcast is. It's a distribution platform, right? It's a distribution channel. That's why I thought about, like, Facebook and Instagram, it's like, all right, have images. I can put it out there. If I want someone to experience me in an audio format, it doesn't have to be through a conversation in a way that we're thinking about it. One of the things that goes to my mind that the challenges that I think about is Saturday Night Live. I'm like, like, what if I could create a Saturday Night Live version on. As a podcast? So if I was like, into, like, improv, how cool would it be to just do an improv session with my friends and then just let people listen to that as the podcast and let that live? So for me, that.

That.

That's where like, the difference part comes in, where it's like, what's the thing that. That essentially it's like, what would you love to record put out into the world? And. And there's. There's some. There's some kind of freedom right now that is. That's really going on for me. I like to play games. So I'm a game kind of person. And I. And whenever I run into kind of barriers around, especially if I'm trying to do things that are different, like, as much as I say that I feel pressure a lot, internal pressure. I'm like, will anyone ever accept this? Is this too far? Have I gone? Is this too much? So on and so forth, and one of the things that has freed me has been to create a game about the thing that I'm afraid of the most and then actively go out of my way to try and get points for it. Everyone's gonna say no to listen to my podcast if I ask them. Okay, my goal right now is to get 50 people to say no. I have to go out of my way to get 50 people to say no to this. And what's. I've always found is that it's a lot harder to make my, like, my worst fear come to life than I. Than I think. And usually afterwards, I'm like, okay, so it turns out that I actually have something here, or it turns out there's something that's pretty interesting here. So those are the things that are. That are playing through my mind right now to see, like, oh, I wonder, like, what different types of podcasts might come out of here. Like, what might someone come out with and say, I didn't know this couldn't be a podcast, so I made it. And all of a sudden people are like, I need to make a podcast. That's the kind of stuff that's going through my mind right now.

Betsy, I'd love to hear from you in terms of mindset, because that's the biggest thing people have to overcome, right? And I like the idea of what Andre said with trying to fail, because I think that's a really good. Like, to try to make it bad. I was just wondering what comes alive for you in terms of thinking about people and what. What will be going through their minds when I say, oh, join the do the thing, Start a podcast challenge? And they're like, I don't know. I can't do that. Like, what comes. What comes for you?

You know, it's interesting because our unconscious minds don't want us to do anything outside of what we've been doing. It thinks that we're going to die, right? Literally, it thinks that's the end. And so I know for me, sometimes, if I can just say to myself, I know that this feels really uncomfortable, but I'm totally safe, Then I'm making a decision, you know, myself, I'm making this decision, and then I can start to move forward, and I'm kind of calming myself as I'm doing it. Like, recognizing this feels super scary, but I'm not gonna die. Like, I can continue to make little steps, little steps. And one of the things that I really like doing is I'll get really clear on where I am, right? Like, I have no podcast I am wanting to do this and I have a desire, and then I get really clear on what I want. I want to create 10 episodes, and I want those 10 episodes to be live by October 30th. And then I just brainstorm. I actually set a timer, and a timer is really important. If you could set like a 10 minute timer and just write down all the little things that you would have to do. A million little things, Little, little things. Write them all down. And then all you have to do is pick one and just make it something that's so silly, so small that you couldn't not do it. It. Brainstorm a name. Okay, well, I'm just going to do that. Brainstorm other podcasts in the genre, like whatever that is, start to choose something tiny and that will start to calm your nervous system also. So that one little thing leads to the next little thing needs to leads to the next. So I think acknowledging it, that this is happening and that means your brain's working really well, and then just breaking it up into teeny, tiny steps.

I like that actually, for everything.

And you know what's so funny? When I first, first started my podcast, I bought a mic off Amazon.

Whatever.

I didn't really know what I was doing. After, like about a year, I started getting these reviews that people would post and it would say, like, I love this podcast, but I can't listen because I can hear her swallow. And I was like, oh, my God, it was like the worst thing ever. And then I realized they liked it, that it was just a technical thing. I had to fit. It wasn't that I was bad or it was bad, it was just that I swallow.

But all of a sudden I was like, I can take risks. And if that's the worst thing anybody has to say, I can adjust, that I can learn and I can do better. And now I'm so careful of my swallowing.

So good.

Yeah. And Kate, what comes alive for you with this, with this topic? Because you're not only doing your own podcast, you're running, like, all these people and helping, Helping this community.

Yeah.

I love what Betsy said about, like, small daily actions. It's all about that consistency and getting that momentum going. Because once you make it a habit to do something little every single day, like those incremental steps. I think Gregory said this too, about the incremental things they add up. If you just make it a point to every single day, do one thing that's moving your podcast forward. That's such a huge win. Because guess what, 99% of people say that they'll do it tomorrow, and then tomorrow they say they'll do it the next day, and then they never have a podcast. So it's just about. And I think a huge help in that is surrounding yourself with a community of people who are on the same path as you. There are so many resources and free groups that you can be a part of, of other podcasters, of other people who are in the same genre or industry as you. So surrounding yourself with a community of people who understand what you're going through, have maybe already been where you are right now, and can help you through that. That accountability and that support, I think, is really a critical thing to have on this journey.

So on that, I'd love to ask you guys, what would be the one thing. So in the challenge we're going to be doing, I'm not sure how many weeks it is. It probably will be 5. If it's like the other ones that I've done, they're gonna do. It's like a core objective where every day they have to do something. So, for example, for the do the Thing Dating Jar challenge, the thing they had to do do was every day they had to write what they loved about themselves, because it's important to fill up yourself right before you're meeting someone or then you're going to want it from that person. So that's just an example doesn't necessarily have to do exactly with the podcast. So just wondering what comes to your mind would be a good thing for them to do every day during this challenge to keep the momentum going or spark new things. Yes, Betsy?

Well, I was just going to say, especially if they don't know what they want a podcast about out specifically, but they know they want to do it. It's just every day to find a topic. Like, every day. Oh, I could. If I had a podcast, I could do it about that thing. Oh, if I had a podcast, I could do it about that. And it might be moments in your life or things that you're curious about or people you want to interview. I mean, there have been times where I've wanted to learn something. So I'm like, I'm going to find the person that does that and interview them. So it might be just every day coming up with brainstorming on what could I do talk about.

Yeah, I keep a note on my phone. I have an iPhone, so you can just open up a notes app. And anytime I think of something or I hear somebody say something or I experience something, I write it down. I went to a restaurant, just. Just to give you a couple of examples, I went to a restaurant called Whiskey Cake. They have whiskey and cake, and they also have food. But the thing that stood out to me was I was there near closing time, and they were literally, like, with their flashlight, checking the floor to make sure that they had picked up all the crumbs. And I could tell. And they were, like, polishing the clean glasses, and I could tell that service and cleanliness was a high priority for this restaurant. I wrote that down. I wanted to talk about that. I had a conversation with a guy. Somebody said, 1% doubt will keep you out. That's cool. I want to sit and chew on that and figure out how to turn that into a podcast. And then just a minute ago, I can't remember, I think it was Gregory that said, you accrue incremental wisdom as you implement your flawed plan. That's a podcast episode for me, and I'm going to give him the credit for it. But I will write down three, four, or five things per day that I just see, and I'm going to find a way to turn that into an idea that matches my brand, my message, and that gives me. Before I started my podcast, I had, like, a hundred of these things.

Things.

And so all I have to do when I'm ready to record is I go to that list and. Have I done that one yet?

Nope.

Check it off. And I'm going to record that there's.

Something really powerful about what Josh said. And it's that idea of your day now, looking for fun things and interesting things and curious things. And I found this even with. Not just with my podcast, but even with comedy, because you're looking for the funny in things, and it changes your whole outlook. And so. So, Dr. Nancy, from a holistic coach perspective, I'd love you to speak to that a little bit and what that can do for your life.

Life.

I was going to say that when I am talking to my daughter and we're having conversations, it's so often that I said, oh, my gosh, we should talk about that in a podcast. And I do the same thing as Josh. I just go into my phone and I'm like, let's schedule this for this day, and we're going to talk about that. And it makes it so much easier because we're already in a momentum. Probably Betsy knows about this.

The.

The brain has the capacity to filter information and is deciding what information is interesting is important. And when you make that choice, what's interesting or what's important, then you notice those things. You forget the rest.

You.

It's not that they disappear. They're still in your subconscious mind, but you are so focused on what's important or interesting for you at that moment. And so, Stacy, you were saying about how you are, you're doing the comedy and now you're looking at everything, and it's just so funny. Putting yourself in that environment where you want to be lets your brain know that that's important for you. If you are putting yourself in that place of sadness and nothing's working out for me, that's unfortunately all you're going to see. So surrounding yourself with people like you, you know, like you guys, listening to people like you just immerse in yourself and feeding yourself things that feed you and make you feel alive. I think that's a great way to start changing your mindset.

Said.

Yeah. And actually that makes me think of this. Gregory, I'd love to hear you talk part two of that mask thing of. I know there's a part two. You don't even know what I'm like. I didn't know there was a part one and part two. But I hear you say this where that when you take the mask, like when you had the mask on, you were like bringing in the people. Do you mind kind of speaking to that a little bit? And then once you got the mask off, it changed that because I think this is totally related to that too.

Absolutely. I remember we talked about that when you came on the Dare to Dream podcast past and that I was getting really frustrated because I believe in manifestation. I felt like I was doing it right. I was sitting down, I was visualizing what I wanted. I was pairing that with the emotional state I would feel when that came true. And yet I felt manifestation wasn't working. And what I realized now is that it was working. I was just manifesting all of the external reality that fit with that mask I was wearing. And so the people the opportunities were very much in line with. I call him Finance Greg. When I was in the corporate world and I wasn't showing my authentic true self, and then fast forward to now where I come on podcasts like this and I share openly and I'm an open book and I'm really showing the world my true self, now it feels like I'm manifesting what's in aligned, what's in alignment with my true self. It's no longer finger matching up to that old mask I was wearing. And so I encourage people to Be weird. Show the world who you really are. Don't be ashamed of it, embarrassed of it. And the more authentic and truthful you can be about who you are and what lights you up, you're going to attract those people, and they're going to hear something you say and be like, oh, my gosh, you too. You like this weird thing, too. And that's just been the biggest lesson for me, is the more authentic you can be. Be, and the more of yourself you can share with the world. That's when the opportunities and the people and the magic really starts to happen.

Yeah, I feel like this podcast has been, like, a reset for me with my life and just being able to, Adam said, have it as a vehicle. And so I think that then you're bringing in all these different experiences and different people that are just really aligned with who you are and where you want to go. And I just think there's something really, really cool about this that you were talking about.

The thing I do that we. We do that. Like, we just keep consistent. I couldn't decide. I have two. Sorry, if not what you asked for. Also, this might not apply for everybody. So don't take this as law, because somebody else on here would probably disagree with me, which is great. One is, don't edit your episodes. I personally, I love the philosophy of just letting it rip. And if it's an hour, if it's two hours, or if it's 45 minutes, if it's six minutes, just let it. Because I feel like that speaking to what Gregory was saying about the vulnerability, I feel like that's the best to show that you're human is by being like, oh, we. I said the word wrong or there was dead air. That's okay to me. I enjoy that. I think that's cool. That's it. And then the second thing that we have on our show, the philosophy in our show, because we believe in giving other people voices, is no content of ours is ever going to be paid for. So for us, that was more of a philosophy inside because. Because the fact that we believe that everyone's voice is important, it shouldn't cost to hear it. That again, some people might charge for exclusive bonus content. You hear all that stuff. But what that did for us is it helped us stay on the mission, which you're doing this for someone else. Keep going. Let everybody hear it. Let them hear it. Transparent, raw. No editing. I mean, sure, maybe edit the volume and stuff, but from the standpoint of cutting and stuff, let it. Just let it be. Because you'll never know when you're going to get that gold nugget, even if it was that quiet moment too.

So I'm glad you said that, because that's what we're encouraging during the challenge is no editing other than the beginning and the end, depending on when they. When they got on, because that's going to help, I think, them move forward, too, with doing the things.

Yeah. I think a daily action that I take every single day that I think is immensely helpful is writing down two things. One, at the end of each day, One, what's one thing that worked really well for me today? And two, what's something that didn't work so well, and how can I either learn from that or not do it again? And especially on your podcasting journey, I think that recognizing the good things that are happening on a daily basis creates incredible momentum and appreciation and just recognition of. Of all your efforts. And then, of course, identifying what's not working is going to save you time. Don't keep doing something if it's not getting you where you want to be. And we can take away so many lessons from just having the time and space to allow ourselves to ask those questions. So I think if people during the challenge are doing something every single day, that those would be really helpful things to think about.

As I was thinking about the challenge and what I would include here, that the things that would come to mind. Mind was on a simple basis, hit record every day during this time. Just like, just hit record, even if it's for, like, one minute. And then there was, like, this overarching theme of during this period of time, I've really. Adam, I've really enjoyed, like, talking to you because, like, I hear you. Like, you're both in extreme. You're like, I do everything extreme. And you're like, but you also time box it. But it's for 10 days. At the end of this, I can walk away. I thought that was a really cool juxtaposition where it's on extreme forever. And the thought for me was, at the end of this challenge, I would want to move from a consumer human to create it. That's, like, the core part. If I can become a creator, like, that's. That's where we go. So if there was one thing that I would do each day, that that actually is part of what I do. I choose to serve one person. Each day. I pick one person, and I serve them. It's like, who in my life can I reach out to? And just, like, reach out to Be in service. So in the context of the podcast I would, I might look at it and say each day, who would I want to make a podcast conversation for? This one's going to go for it. This one's for Adam and I'm going to reach out to someone or I have something on my head. Like Adam needs to hear this part of my story because like it's just been a while and make it for Adam. Other people may get a chance to listen to it later on or make it for that one person. Let me not bring it back to generic. Everyone else might will get a chance to listen to it. But I think about being able to create that level of intimacy and also that level of like freedom where it goes from this ethereal, it's for the masses who's going to listen to it, so on and so forth. Oh, my dad needs to hear this message today. And so I'll, I'll make this work so good.

My heart is pounding with happiness. So. And if you guys have some idea for a dare, if we do a dare during this challenge regarding starting a podcast, what would be a good dare do you think?

Go and try to interview the person that you think would never say yes. If you're. If it's a business podcast, go reach out to Mark Cuban and be like yo, be on my podcast. So probably say no, but still just go for it.

Yeah, I would challenge. The biggest dare would would be to reach out to people you do not know and ask them if they would like to be a guest because it will work 10 times more than you think it will. Like, hey, I got a podcast about fill in the blank, whatever it is, would you like to come on and be a be a guest now you can't. It doesn't work all the time. If your podcast is. I just heard about some lady that, that focuses on women in their fourth trimester, which is basically like what happens after they have a baby. Wouldn't make a lot of sense to bring a dude on for that. Or maybe if the perspective this is how I help my, my wife through the fourth trimester.

Maybe.

But reach out to people you don't know and if there's a reasonable way that you can tie back to that podcast, just go ahead and invite them. They're probably going to say yes. I've interviewed some of the most well known people in the world just because I had a podcast, I'm just a dude. And they'll be happy to say yes, number one, if you ask them them. Or number two, if their PR firm finds you and they'll ask you first.

Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because when you talk about the vehicle, Adam mentioned the vehicle, and it's an opportunity to meet people. And speaking of that, I was interviewing most people in my network, and then I was listening to Kate's husband, John Lee Dumas, and I was, oh, I want to interview him. And then I thought I was going to have to reach out to him, and instead I go to his website and he has a calendar link for people that can schedule podcasts. So it's just a service that he does for people to be able to interview them. So for me, that was my dare, right? Was I'm going to reach out to him. And then all of a sudden, it was like, the easiest thing because he actually already had it on his. On his website.

I have a question for you. Before you started a podcast, I remember you. You were. You were trying to figure out, and I think you reached out, you emailed people. Do you remember what you did it? How did you dare yourself?

Like my dare, Like a dare. It was really. For me, it was different because other than John, it was. Everyone was really in my network. That part wasn't hard. My hard part was hitting publish on it because I had recorded 10 episodes and doing publish was. So maybe that'll be a dare. That's actually a good point. That'll be a dare as I go along. Because in the beginning, we're going to say, you don't need to publish it. Just record and meet people and interview, and then all of a sudden, the dare will be okay. Now the dare is publish it.

I highly advocate for anyone listening to this. If you're just starting a podcast, you've never done it. Make your first handful with people you're comfortable with and, you know, because things are bound to go wrong. It's going to be awkward. Save the superstars for podcast 10, 11, 12, 13, and save my first 10. I'm going to fumble through it. I'm going to figure stuff out. It's bound to go wrong. I love the suggestion Andres did about. About, don't worry about editing. You will find yourself burned out of podcasting. If you obsess over episode one. Episode two, you're obsessing over it, and you have to edit everything out. These are your training wheel episodes. You're gonna go. Just fumble and bumble your way through your first 10, and then you're gonna experience, oh, what happens when my Internet drops. You don't want to feel you Want to know how to handle those? So when you do get Mark Cuban on, you know how to troubleshoot it effortlessly, and then you make him look good. You look good. So your first handful people on, you know, this call, you know, it's like, oh, wow, I did a. Or someone in your office that you met or whatever. You find different people that are closer in your network that won't mind when something goes wrong, and then you won't have to feel as bad yourself.

Yeah, that makes me think. So you could reach out to the person, but then schedule it for like, two months from now, so then you can already have it figured out by the time that you do it.

But you're still.

Still getting the dare in by being able to reach out to the person.

I don't know if I would call this a dare exactly, but five episodes, one episode per week, it puts you in front of more than. More than half of the podcasts that are currently in existence.

Yeah, that's.

Completing five episodes will put you in, like, the top 10% of podcasts. And that's the. That's the crazy thing. And so I. It might be worth Stacy getting some more updated stats on this to, like, what is it?

How many.

How many episodes do you need to be in the top 1% of podcasts? And, like, you know, make that a.

A long.

A long term challenge or something. But it's not that hard. All you have to do is keep going.

It's not that hard. All you have to do is keep going.

I love that there's something that's coming up for me. I'm a meta person, so I want to just, like, acknowledge you. When you said it's, how long is this challenge? Like, maybe five to seven weeks. Like, like you're still in the process of figuring it out. And I love that. Like, like, you didn't say, I need to have this done and then I can have a path panel. Let's go. I know it will evolve. Like, and I think you're living it. You also just also that other part about the relationships, when you introduced all of us here, this only happened because you had the podcast and how awesome was it and how easy was it to then say you want to bring them into this format? I thought that was super cool. Josh said something really earlier that also really struck me, which was like, when he got started, he's like, do you want to just, like, co host this thing together? And that might be a challenge that I would put in here, which is to invite someone else in the Challenge space to be on your podcast. Podcast. I think that'd be really wonderful just to, like, have someone else do it buddy with you, but also to know what it's like to, like, receive. What is it like to be on the receiving end of getting it? Because we think that. Who would say yes? When I've been asked on People's podcast, me. This guy.

Like you.

You like Stacy. When you invited me here, I was.

Like, yes, I would love to.

So I think that'll be a really fun challenge to also play with.

Okay, guys, what is your number one piece of advice for people about being a part of this challenge? Why should they join? What will they get out of it? So the number one thing that you want them to take away from this conversation?

I'll just. I'll lead off and say that your voice has more power than you believe.

And.

And I was. I was about to ask. Did you mind if I just ask the panel one quick question? Just. It's related. Of those of you, there's. There's. There's nine people here. How many of you felt like you were super comfortable and like a pro speaker before you ever started your podcast? Raise your hand just for the record. That's zero hands went up. How many of you felt super awkward and uncomfortable and were terrified that somebody was going to judge you for. For how unprepared you were? Every hand goes up and including me. So at this point, I. I don't know how many podcast episodes I've done. I've been on a guest host on a few, and I've. I've run two of them. I would anticipate it's somewhere around 500 hundred, and my first one was horrific because I'm not, like, a speaker guy. I'm not a guy that wants to get in front of people. It terrifies me. But the more that I've done this, the better I've gotten at it. And so I think the most common response, Stacy, is going to be, oh, gosh, I'm just like, I don't know. I'm no good speaking to people. And I think I just wanted to point out, literally everybody on this panel feels the same way. And the only difference now is that we just went and did it a bunch of times to where, like, it doesn't bother us so bad anymore. We did the thing.

I would encourage people to have fun with it. This is not meant to be torture. You should be excited about joining this challenge. You should be really excited that you have a leader like Stacy who's bringing you through this and an incredible group of people here who are supporting you, here to cheer you on, here to lift you up and make it fun. Don't act like this is a terrible thing that you're going through. So it's tough to remind yourself that sometimes. But if you can keep that in mind, then it's going to be a lot more fun.

I think one thing to keep in mind if you're going to do the challenge is that you're going to get cringy moments, and those are going to be like the best stories, right? I mean, I can tell the story about how I swallow on the podcast. It makes my life better. Better. So just have experiences and just be open to what, however it goes.

I want to say that sometimes we're afraid, but we're not afraid of doing it. What we're afraid is not having enough information or not knowing how. So we're. A lot, a lot of times we're afraid of the unknown. But once you start doing it, then the fear goes away because you're like, oh, wow, I guess it wasn't that hard. I listen, I heard this quote that says, it doesn't matter where you're going. What matters is that you get on. And so just star. It doesn't matter. Don't. Don't look too far ahead. Just get on. And what you just did, Stacy, you know, hit the ground running. Let's go.

You know, I have to. I have to build off of what Dr. Nancy just said. And it's a quote from Stephen King. He says, the scariest moment is always just before you see start. After that, things can only get better. So my advice is just start, do the thing.

I would say be a student of the game. Because even if it ends up being that you don't have a podcast forever, at the very least, throughout five weeks, you learn everything. There's no podcasting, which is a really cool thing to be into because it's. It's the Future. It's what YouTube was in 2010, maybe where some people had ch, you know, channels. But now it's like a part of our culture. I think that's just what's going to happen. That's worst case scenario. Best case scenario, you end up with something that you really like and your podcast is doing great and you're learning. A lot of people are coming in to listen and flock and at least you know much more about it. So be a student of the game and just learn from other people. Ask the right questions, ask the wrong questions, Google it, YouTube it, ask us whatever, but learn.

The thing that comes for me here is don't do it for the podcast. Like, just do it for you. Have that experience, like, have that element of, like, for 10 days, you're. You're being led in a really powerful way by powerful people, or however long the challenge lasts and, and do it for you in that regard. The very least, you'll have a cool podcast. You'll always be able to say, I've created a podcast and that, that to me is really cool. But the internal process feels like the reason I would say yes over and over again.

Yeah, I'd love to piggyback off that as well. And for me, I guess if you're listening to this, ask yourself, is the universe kind of like, am I having doors open for me right now? And if not, not, you know, is there opportunity? Are things being created for me? If you feel in your life maybe doors have not been opened up or opportunities are presenting themselves, if you start a podcast, it's bound to happen. Your world becomes more expansive and doors open as you meet people and you grow. And so for me, that's the opportunity that Stacy, I think with this challenge is presenting. Doors will open. You're going to meet new people as new people come into your life, life, new ideas, new thoughts, new opportunities to grow. So for me, that's the biggest special thing that that's available here.

That. That was great. Do the podcast for you. I've seen a podcast used as a tool very effectively. Much more so than thought leadership. Thought leadership is out there. Like, I've got a message I need to share with the world. That's the way that we tend to think about, about podcasts. But I've seen it used in many different ways very effectively. One other way to use a podcast is if you want to become a student of something. I want to learn how to be a better salesperson. So I'm going to go and interview all of the great salespeople and I'm just going to ask them questions and I'm going to record it. Somebody else probably wants to hear that. I had a friend of mine who wanted to learn about crypto a few years ago, so he started a crypto podcast. He didn't know jack about crypto. Crypto, but he brought on all of the guys that were making all of the crypto moves back in the day, and he learned a ton. You can use it as a lead generation tool, which I've actually done effectively. I wanted to talk to sales Managers, because I had a service to offer to sales managers. And so I started a podcast specifically for sales managers. I don't know, it was called Sales Managers in the Trenches or something. And when you reach out on LinkedIn and you say, hey, I'd love to have you on my podcast to talk about what it's be, what it's like to be a sales manager, they say, yes. And they find an hour in their time to talk to you. You give them a great experience, and on the back end, you say, hey, I've got this service that I'm starting up. I'd love to run it by if you're interested and you pick up clients. And so that podcast can be a tool for a number of different things if you're focused more on whatever it is you need to really get out of it. To this day, I have no idea how many people have listened to my podcast podcast. It could be like five, but it doesn't matter because what I do know is from just a handful, like less than five people that I've interviewed across the entire spectrum have directly generated me more than a million dollars worth of revenue just because I had the relationship with them. And it's like I can draw a straight line to that money from the podcast interview that I had. And I don't know if anybody heard that episode, but I definitely know who those people people are. And so there's all kinds of different ways that you can look at this. What is it that you need to get out of your life and use your podcast as a tool to go and get that thing?

Thank you so much, you guys. This has been incredible. I really appreciate you. Thank you. And I'm just really excited to get this challenge going. And I'll keep you all posted as it as it progresses. Thanks for joining.

Can't wait to listen to them.

Thanks for including me.

Thanks, everyone.

Amazing to hear, everybody.